2021 Application Thread

[Maguire]

48 minutes ago, Ryan_The_Grogu_Fan said:

I know it’s rough but don’t despair yet! You’ve still got a lot of irons in the fire and as my MA supervisor said to me, “You only need one.” You’ve got this!

Very true - you only need one, as Amy said! 

Edited February 4, 2021 by scarletwitch

[Undergrad-student]

Hi all! It's my first time posting on here so I hope I'm posting in the right place! 

I just received an interview invitation from Mercy College this week and I'm so excited but more nervous than anything. Does anyone have any tips/advice? How should I prepare? Has anyone interviewed here or knows anyone that interviewed here that can give me some insight into the process? Thanks so much!

[werdnerd]

3 hours ago, scarletwitch said:

Very true - you only need one, as Amy said! 

I second this sentiment to all those still waiting. I only applied to three programs, and got two early rejections before I heard back from my dream school – including one from my home institution where I did my master's, had studied with the DGS and made a great connection with the POI (though the program was otherwise not a great fit for me). It's not over until it's over!

[HRL]

11 hours ago, scarletwitch said:

At the very least I appreciate them sending out rejections and acceptances at the same time, I think it is quite clear that the UCLA acceptances have gone out and rejections will come later.

I'm with you on this. I'm assuming UCLA and Vanderbilt are done extending offers (except perhaps for waitlist folks), and so no news at this point probably means a rejection.

I'm slightly uncertain what to make of Harvard - the one person that was waitlisted said that the DGS email noted that only 6 offers were made (past tense, I believe), but none were reported on the results page. I think it's more likely that those 6 folks just aren't on GradCafe than that the offers haven't gone out yet. Getting word of even just 1 person with a Harvard offer would make me more certain of this, though. (Would be curious to hear how other people waiting to hear from Harvard are thinking about it.)

And, to be honest, I'm mentally bracing for Yale being out too, but with a much lower level of certainty, based on the fact that I didn't get an interview and, at least in past years, the interview seemed to be critical (to the point that, in 2018 ish, a person's POI told them they were required to be admitted - found this on the results page). But this year is anything but typical, and I imagine there must be exceptions to the rule, if it was/is a rule. (Would be keen to hear from any folks from prior cycles on this thread who got into Yale without an interview.)

I personally cope better if I anticipate a "no" (and then get pleasantly surprised with a "yes"), so in these gray zones, I'm defaulting to that. Wouldn't necessarily recommend that mindset for people who cope better with optimistic expectations. 

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by HRL

[Maguire]

19 minutes ago, HRL said:

I'm with you on this. I'm assuming UCLA and Vanderbilt are done extending offers (except perhaps for waitlist folks), and so no news at this point probably means a rejection.

I'm slightly uncertain what to make of Harvard - the one person that was waitlisted said that the DGS email noted that only 6 offers were made (past tense, I believe), but none were reported on the results page. I think it's more likely that those 6 folks just aren't on GradCafe than that the offers haven't gone out yet. Getting word of even just 1 person with a Harvard offer would make me more certain of this, though. (Would be curious to hear how other people waiting to hear from Harvard are thinking about it.)

And, to be honest, I'm mentally bracing for Yale being out too, but with a much lower level of certainty, based on the fact that I didn't get an interview and, at least in past years, the interview seemed to be critical (to the point that, in 2018 ish, a person's POI told them they were required to be admitted - found this on the results page). But this year is anything but typical, and I imagine there must be exceptions to the rule, if it was/is a rule. (Would be keen to hear from any folks from prior cycles on this thread who got into Yale without an interview.)

I personally cope better if I anticipate a "no" (and then get pleasantly surprised with a "yes"), so in these gray zones, I'm defaulting to that. Wouldn't necessarily recommend that mindset for people who cope better with optimistic expectations. 

 

Yeah, I'm not too optimistic about Yale either since I haven't had an interview notice. I did see on the results though that last year someone got in without an interview but had talked with their POIs in the pre-application process. I'm not too sure what to think, but reckon that their results will come sometime soon since the past 4 years it has always been early Feb.

Vanderbilt is definitely done. They sent out acceptances last Friday and waitlists on Monday. I found out personally via email from my POI on Monday I was not accepted even though I was deemed a 'strong candidate'. It would be nice if they didn't wait so long to send the official rejection emails. 

Best of luck!

[TagRendar]

5 minutes ago, scarletwitch said:

Yeah, I'm not too optimistic about Yale either since I haven't had an interview notice. I did see on the results though that last year someone got in without an interview but had talked with their POIs in the pre-application process. I'm not too sure what to think, but reckon that their results will come sometime soon since the past 4 years it has always been early Feb.

Vanderbilt is definitely done. They sent out acceptances last Friday and waitlists on Monday. I found out personally via email from my POI on Monday I was not accepted even though I was deemed a 'strong candidate'. It would be nice if they didn't wait so long to send the official rejection emails. 

Best of luck!

I feel like this season is especially a bit of a mess because everyone's department funding is a bit of a mess.  Everyone still seems to be in a bit of a scramble mode with everything constantly shifting around them.  I imagine that a lot of schools were thinking that maybe by September the world would be a little closer to normal but the reality that's emerging is that we're probably going to be into 2022 before we hit that benchmark, at least in the US.

[star21]

Also got a rejection from Berkeley last night, but not too surprised or anything since I didn't have an interview. I definitely have a stronger fit with UCLA.

On another note, if anyone else was accepted to UCLA, feel free to DM me. I'd love to start getting to know my possible cohort.

[automatic_peas]

31 minutes ago, HRL said:

I'm with you on this. I'm assuming UCLA and Vanderbilt are done extending offers (except perhaps for waitlist folks), and so no news at this point probably means a rejection.

I'm slightly uncertain what to make of Harvard - the one person that was waitlisted said that the DGS email noted that only 6 offers were made (past tense, I believe), but none were reported on the results page. I think it's more likely that those 6 folks just aren't on GradCafe than that the offers haven't gone out yet. Getting word of even just 1 person with a Harvard offer would make me more certain of this, though. (Would be curious to hear how other people waiting to hear from Harvard are thinking about it.)

And, to be honest, I'm mentally bracing for Yale being out too, but with a much lower level of certainty, based on the fact that I didn't get an interview and, at least in past years, the interview seemed to be critical (to the point that, in 2018 ish, a person's POI told them they were required to be admitted - found this on the results page). But this year is anything but typical, and I imagine there must be exceptions to the rule, if it was/is a rule. (Would be keen to hear from any folks from prior cycles on this thread who got into Yale without an interview.)

I personally cope better if I anticipate a "no" (and then get pleasantly surprised with a "yes"), so in these gray zones, I'm defaulting to that. Wouldn't necessarily recommend that mindset for people who cope better with optimistic expectations. 

 

When I interviewed at Yale, my POIs told me results would likely be delayed from last year, so doubt they are out. 

[kleio]

I’m thinking ahead to next year and wondering if it is worth applying to a PhD again or if a MA is a safer bet? I know it’s so circumstantial, but with everything going on, I feel like PhD programs next year are still going to be a mess.

[d1389jjch]

14 minutes ago, automatic_peas said:

When I interviewed at Yale, my POIs told me results would likely be delayed from last year, so doubt they are out. 

It seems like they released the result on February 2th last year. So even with the delay, it might still be possible to see the result next week?

Edited February 4, 2021 by d1389jjch

[Maguire]

7 minutes ago, kleio said:

I’m thinking ahead to next year and wondering if it is worth applying to a PhD again or if a MA is a safer bet? I know it’s so circumstantial, but with everything going on, I feel like PhD programs next year are still going to be a mess.

I mean, I've applied to MAs here in the UK (partly as you can't go straight to PhD as you can in the US) and have been accepted at 2 out of 3, so I think chances for acceptances at MA level are better. I've also applied to one MA in the US at the LBJ School of Public Policy at UT Austin as Professor Peniel Joseph has a dual appointment there and in History, plus he's chair of their Centre for Race and Democracy which fits with my interests. If they offer me a place with reduced tuition and potentially a fellowship, I'd be very interested as half of my family is in Texas. 

I think the main issue with MAs is funding as it is much harder to secure, but not impossible. 

I saw this article about applications next year in the Chronicle of Higher Education which said that graduate admissions are expecting an even larger increase AY 2022 due to some people deciding not to apply this year - but that is speculation and I wouldn't be too disheartened by their predictions. 

Here's the article if anyone is interested/able to access it - https://www.chronicle.com/article/more-doctoral-programs-suspend-admissions-that-could-have-lasting-effects-on-graduate-education?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1958344_nl_Academe-Today_date_20210202&cid=at&source=&sourceId=

Edited February 4, 2021 by scarletwitch

[Maguire]

1 minute ago, d1389jjch said:

It seems like they released the result on February 2th last year. So even with the delay, it might still be possible to see the result next week?

It's possible they may get back next week, but equally it could be the following week. I think last week of Feb is the latest we'll hear, but would expect to hear news in either the week commencing the 8th or the week commencing the 15th. 

[TagRendar]

10 minutes ago, kleio said:

I’m thinking ahead to next year and wondering if it is worth applying to a PhD again or if a MA is a safer bet? I know it’s so circumstantial, but with everything going on, I feel like PhD programs next year are still going to be a mess.

Do NOT pursue an MA unless it's funded.  I made that mistake myself and while I don't necessarily regret getting my MA, it wasn't the experience I might have hoped for overall and the debt isn't anything fun to wrestle with.

Something to keep in mind about a lot of terminal MA programs is that they're not funded and in this field a lot of them are geared toward secondary ed teachers (at least in the US) doing continuing studies.  These are often subsidized by their school districts as professional development.  As such, in a lot of scenarios these programs are designed to make money for the school as much as they are to provide academic merits and the opportunities for research, etc. will be much different.

Moral of the story with an MA is choose wisely and make sure you're funded if you're going to do it.

[kleio]

16 minutes ago, scarletwitch said:

I mean, I've applied to MAs here in the UK (partly as you can't go straight to PhD as you can in the US) and have been accepted at 2 out of 3, so I think chances for acceptances at MA level are better. I've also applied to one MA in the US at the LBJ School of Public Policy at UT Austin as Professor Peniel Joseph has a dual appointment there and in History, plus he's chair of their Centre for Race and Democracy which fits with my interests. If they offer me a place with reduced tuition and potentially a fellowship, I'd be very interested as half of my family is in Texas. 

I think the main issue with MAs is funding as it is much harder to secure, but not impossible. 

I saw this article about applications next year in the Chronicle of Higher Education which said that graduate admissions are expecting an even larger increase AY 2022 due to some people deciding not to apply this year - but that is speculation and I wouldn't be too disheartened by their predictions. 

Here's the article if anyone is interested/able to access it - https://www.chronicle.com/article/more-doctoral-programs-suspend-admissions-that-could-have-lasting-effects-on-graduate-education?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1958344_nl_Academe-Today_date_20210202&cid=at&source=&sourceId=

 

8 minutes ago, TagRendar said:

Do NOT pursue an MA unless it's funded.  I made that mistake myself and while I don't necessarily regret getting my MA, it wasn't the experience I might have hoped for overall and the debt isn't anything fun to wrestle with.

Something to keep in mind about a lot of terminal MA programs is that they're not funded and in this field a lot of them are geared toward secondary ed teachers (at least in the US) doing continuing studies.  These are often subsidized by their school districts as professional development.  As such, in a lot of scenarios these programs are designed to make money for the school as much as they are to provide academic merits and the opportunities for research, etc. will be much different.

Moral of the story with an MA is choose wisely and make sure you're funded if you're going to do it.

I did read the Chronicle piece a while back, hence my concern. I decided to skip an MA because of the financial burden. @TagRendar what was different about the research opportunities? Does anyone know of good funded/ partially funded MA programs? Hoping to focus on US history. 

[Historyman217]

Has anyone heard anything from Stanford? I’ve been rejected from Vanderbilt and Berkeley (after interviewing) and Stanford is kind of my last hope. From what I’ve heard, Europe as a field has been hit really hard this cycle.

[boydivision]

5 minutes ago, Historyman217 said:

From what I’ve heard, Europe as a field has been hit really hard this cycle.

What do you mean by the above? Has there been a huge number of applicants interested in Europe, fewer slots for Europeanists, etc? And why do you think that is?

(If you can't tell, anxious modern European applicant here!)

[TagRendar]

5 minutes ago, kleio said:

 

I did read the Chronicle piece a while back, hence my concern. I decided to skip an MA because of the financial burden. @TagRendar what was different about the research opportunities? Does anyone know of good funded/ partially funded MA programs? Hoping to focus on US history. 

The environment is much different and there's less emphasis placed (in my experience) on actual firsthand research.  This having been said, it depends very heavily where you go, so like I said, do your research on the programs before you apply to an MA.

The place where I went did offer a thesis option, but most MA students took a field exam instead, which basically meant that they read a lot of books and talked about them rather than having to do a lot of historiographic and primary source work.

[Historyman217]

2 minutes ago, boydivision said:

What do you mean by the above? Has there been a huge number of applicants interested in Europe, fewer slots for Europeanists, etc? And why do you think that is?

(If you can't tell, anxious modern European applicant here!)

Much fewer spots. My POI at Berkeley told me that I would have been accepted in a normal year, but that they had the lowest number of Europeanists that they have ever taken in. 

[TagRendar]

Just now, Historyman217 said:

Much fewer spots. My POI at Berkeley told me that I would have been accepted in a normal year, but that they had the lowest number of Europeanists that they have ever taken in. 

It feels like that would be a side-effect of not being able to do a lot of travel/research actually in Europe, don't you think?

[Historyman217]

Just now, Historyman217 said:

Much fewer spots. My POI at Berkeley told me that I would have been accepted in a normal year, but that they had the lowest number of Europeanists that they have ever taken in. 

As an addendum, I’ve been told that, at least in some places, americanists are being preferenced this year. There is also the fact that the job market for Europeanists is dire. 

[boydivision]

6 minutes ago, Historyman217 said:

Much fewer spots. My POI at Berkeley told me that I would have been accepted in a normal year, but that they had the lowest number of Europeanists that they have ever taken in. 

Thanks for the info- doesn't surprise me, sadly. I had emailed with a potential POI at Berkeley (in modern Europe) in the fall, and he said that he wouldn't be accepting anyone this cycle because of the pandemic, so I decided not to apply rather than wait for certain rejection. Seems like this is just a bad year for all applicants, some more than others.

[Historyman217]

10 minutes ago, boydivision said:

Thanks for the info- doesn't surprise me, sadly. I had emailed with a potential POI at Berkeley (in modern Europe) in the fall, and he said that he wouldn't be accepting anyone this cycle because of the pandemic, so I decided not to apply rather than wait for certain rejection. Seems like this is just a bad year for all applicants, some more than others.

You are so right. This has been an incredibly competitive and difficult cycle. Many, many qualified and brilliant people will be turned away. I'm going to try again next year if things don't work out. Good luck everyone! 

[Maguire]

For anyone applying to Wisconsin-Madison, I just heard from the Graduate program coordinator that decisions will come out next week. Bit scared as she said there were 400 graduate applications this year ? (but then they also have History of Science, Medicine and Technology which is separate from the History PhD, as well as the MAs but I’d guess like 200 of those applications at least are for the History PhD!) I emailed my POI there earlier about a research enquiry so will see if she gets back also! Fingers crossed! I’m hoping that as usually they take 30-40 applicants per year they will still take around 15-20 this year. 

Edited February 4, 2021 by scarletwitch

[HRL]

54 minutes ago, kleio said:

Does anyone know of good funded/ partially funded MA programs? Hoping to focus on US history. 

I applied to MA's two cycles ago with a focus on US history and did a lot of research on funding (mostly on this site - lots of good information here). I ended up with a full scholarship offer at UGA and somewhere between a half and a quarter scholarship from UChicago. I ended up going with UChicago and quickly learned that my cohort-mates who had applied directly to the PhD and were offered the MA instead were given even more generous funding (so that's the route I would take if I could do it again). 

[HRL]

1 hour ago, Historyman217 said:

I’ve been rejected from Vanderbilt and Berkeley (after interviewing) and Stanford is kind of my last hope.

Did you receive an email or portal update for Vanderbilt? Or just assuming it's a probable rejection at this point since the acceptances went out?